Citizens Police Academy

History

Citizen's Police Academies have been around for several years across the nation. The purpose was to give the general public a better idea of how officers do their job, why they do their job the way they do and what the end results are for doing that job. Most of the general public's knowledge of police work has come from watching a host of police television shows and movies. However, most crimes are not solved in a 30 to 60 minute timeframe. Chief Ross McCarty wanted to make the Citizen's Police Academy a priority of his police-community relations programs. The Urbandale Police Department held its first Citizen's Police Academy in January 2010. There were seven graduates who attended weekly meetings and training for 9 full weeks.

2023 Citizen's Police Academy

This year's Citizen Police Academy has been scheduled to start on February 9th, 2023 and will be held on Thursday evenings from 6:00P.M.-9:00P.M. through April 6th, 2023 to include two Saturday morning classes TBA. 

Applications & Contact

If you would like to be considered for Citizens Police Academy please fill out the online Citizens Police Academy Application. For more information on the Citizens Police Academy contact Community Relations Officer Meagan Cowden at 515-331-6804 or by email.

Application Deadline for the 2023 Citizen's Police Academy:

January 24th, 2023 by 8:00A.M.

Attendants

The Citizen's Police Academy is open to individuals who have reached the age of 21 and who are either a resident of the city of Urbandale or have business connections within the city of Urbandale.
Cost: Attending Citizen's Academy is free.
Time Commitment: There is a time commitment to participate in the academy. Classes are generally 3 hours long and are held once a week in the evening. There are 11 classes held over 9 weeks.

Covered Topics

Topics include a wide array of experiences across the different divisions within the Police Department.